DW Program Overview

ISAC will give additional consideration to the needs of dislocated workers (DW) during the 2015-16 and 2016-2017 academic years as required by Public Act 098-0967. ISAC will reserve dollars allowing independent students who are identified as dislocated workers to apply for a Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant later than the date on which award announcements are suspended for the general pool of applicants. After stopping award announcements (suspension) for the general pool of applicants, ISAC will continue to make awards only to DW until the dislocated worker suspense date is determined. A dislocated worker is defined in chapter 2, Filling Out a FAFSA, in the Application and Verification Guide of the FSA Handbook.

ISAC will analyze student data throughout the MAP processing cycle to determine the success of those students who receive grants as a result of this program.

This provision was not extended to 2017-18 applicants, however, the question about being a DW remains on the 2017-18 FAFSA.

Implementation of the DW Program

Independent students who are dislocated workers and answer “yes” to Question 102 on the 2016-17 FAFSA -- As of today, are you (or your spouse) a dislocated worker? -- will be considered applicants who receive “additional and specific consideration” for a MAP grant. Independent student applicants who are dislocated workers will have a later suspense date than other MAP applicants. For the purposes of MAP, a student who answers “yes” to FAFSA Question 102 on any transaction is considered a dislocated worker applicant for the entire academic year. Because the answer to FAFSA Question 102 could include the spouse, schools will need to confirm that the student, not the spouse, is the dislocated worker at the time of payment request. The ILASFAA Dislocated Worker Verification Template is available as one means of accomplishing the confirmation. Colleges are, however, free to use any confirmation method that works best in their office.

Student List Eligibility Screen

Two new fields have been added to the to the far right of the initial view of the Student List Eligibility screen.

Student or Spouse Dislocated Worker – A “Y” will display if the student answered yes to FAFSA Question 102 on one or more transactions in the academic year. The field will be blank if they answered “no” or “I don’t know” to FAFSA Question 102 on their transactions for the academic year.

Dislocated Worker Suspend - DW applicants will have a later suspend date than other applicants. An “S” will display in this column if the DW applicant applies past the date DW suspense date.

Two new icons were added to assist users in determining which DW students are in suspense. The icons will display next to the lightbulb icon that indicates ineligibility.

The regular question mark identifies that a DW student has missed the regular suspense date but has not missed the DW suspense date. This student is in MAP Suspense but not DW Suspense. Although the yellow light bulb appears on this record, which usually indicates ineligibility, if this student is confirmed as a DW at the time of the payment request, the payment request will be processed.

The circled yellow question mark means that a DW student is in DW suspense. The student has missed both the regular suspense date and the DW suspense date, therefore is ineligible for payment.

Filter, Sort and Columns Screens

The Filter screen allows the user to select only those students that are considered DW for MAP purposes by checking the Student or Spouse DW checkbox.

Users can also select DW Suspend students.

Student Eligibility Detail Screen

A “Y” will display in the Student/Spouse Dislocated Worker field if the applicant answered “yes” to the DW question on the FAFSA for any transaction. The field is blank if the applicants answered no to the question.

If a student is a DW and is in DW Suspense, an "S" will display in the DW Suspend field.

Payment Detail Screen

A DW Confirm box was added to the MAP Payment Detail screen for each term.

DW Confirm - Click on the box to indicate that, for the term that payment is being requested, the college verified that the student, not the spouse, is the DW.

If the college submits payment requests electronically, enter a “Y” in field 46 to verify that the student, not the spouse, is the DW.

Confirmation of Dislocated Work Status

The criteria to qualify as a dislocated worker for the MAP dislocated worker provisions is limited to the student only. The FAFSA dislocated worker data pertains to student or spouse; therefore, colleges will need to develop a process for confirming that the student, not the spouse, is the dislocated worker. It should be noted that if the student was awarded a MAP grant prior to the implementation of an initial suspension date (i.e., for the general pool of applicants), it is not necessary to confirm the student’s dislocated worker status, even though he or she may have identified him/herself as such. If, however, the student indicated that he/she (or the spouse) is a dislocated worker, and the FAFSA receipt date is after the suspension date for the general pool of applicants, but before the dislocated worker suspension date, the financial aid office would need to confirm that the student, not the spouse, is the dislocated worker.

To aid in the confirmation process, a Dislocated Worker Verification template was created by the ILASFAA Rules and Operations Advisory Committee, although colleges are free to use any confirmation method that works best in their office. It is not necessary to provide confirmation documentation to ISAC; rather it should be maintained in the student’s file. Additional documentation, such as a letter or unemployment form, is not required by the U.S. Department of Education or ISAC; however, the request for unemployment documentation is included on the template so that the financial aid office may determine if it is necessary information to collect. The ILASFAA Dislocated Worker Verification template is generic and should be customized according to the department or college standards (i.e., college letterhead, content, sentence style).